According to a top Afghan official, Afghanistan has made the decision to join the multibillion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will help the landlocked nation become a hub of trade and draw investment.
The decision to join the massive infrastructure project is a part of the Taliban administration’s commitment to attracting foreign investment to the country, according to Hafiz Zia Ahmad, deputy spokesperson for the interim foreign ministry, who made the announcement on Tuesday.
“CPEC will help us to become part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and bring different projects in the energy, railway, and other sectors to Afghanistan,” Ahmad stated in a video statement aired by a local television station called Ariana News.
The 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue was held in Islamabad last week, and it was attended by Afghanistan’s acting foreign and trade ministers.
A statement released after the meeting said that the “three sides reaffirmed their resolve to fully harness Afghanistan’s potential as a hub for regional connectivity.”
According to the statement, they reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and working together to expand CPEC to Afghanistan.
CPEC is a multibillion-dollar economic and infrastructure development agreement between Pakistan and China that is a part of Beijing’s BRI.
The leadership has also decided to turn the nation into a transit hub between Central and South Asia. There have been conversations of include Taliban-led Afghanistan in the infrastructure project.
Following the departure of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban seized control of the country.
